Switch-operating device



2 Sheets-Sheet 1..

(No Model.)

A. G. CUMMINGS. SWITCH OPERATING DEVICE.

Patented Apr. 4,1882.

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SWITCH OPERATING DEVICE.

No. 256,102. Patented Apr. 4,1882.

wnedded' I I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT Gr. CUMMINGS, OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE PENNSYLVANIA STEEL COMPANY, OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SWITCH-OPERATING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 256,102, dated April 4, 1882.

Application filed J nne 23 1881.

T all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT G. GUMMINGs, a citizen of the United States of America, re-

siding at Harrisburg, in the county of Dauphin and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Switch- Operati'ng Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in V in a signal tower or cabin and under control of persons stationed in said signal-tower, as in the case ofinterlockiug apparatus or other systems of levers by which the switches are to be controlled from a distance, it sometimes happens that to facilitate the distribution of the cars composing the train. or the making up of a train, it will be a convenience to havea means of throwing the switch byswitchmen stationed at the switch, as is necessary in case of making flying switches, or to allow more rapid movements in drilling or shunting the cars into different sidings. Previous to this invention there has been nomeans of usingsuch switches so connected to distant levers in the way mentioned, except by severing the connection leading to the cabin and attaching a hand-lever, which prevented the operation from the distant levers until the hand-levers are detached and the connection to distant levers restored, which required so much time and caused such liability to diiiiculty that it was not resorted to, except in case of accident.

My invention provides a device by which such hand use of'switches connected'to and operated by distant levers can be readily made with the connections to distant levers all in tact and ready for use, as will appear more fully in the following description.

(No model.)

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the portion attached to the switch and to the connection to the levers at a distance. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the above, with portions of the tie and angle-plate. Fig. 3, Sheet 2, is a plan of hamllever arranged parallel to the distant connection.

The rod or bar D, which is attached to the switch or its connection, is made to slide in housings F, F, and G, fixed to the rod E,which rod isjoined to the connection leading to the distant lever by which the switch is operated. On the bar I) is an upward projection, d, to which hand-levcrAis pivoted with a pin of sufficicnt length to comeflus h with the outside of the forked end of said rod-lever. The ends of thelever A carry wrist-pins b b. The housings F F carry similar pins,ff, and eye-bars B B are fitted on pins 1) b andff, thus forming a fulcrum .for moving the bar D.

G is a weighted-lever hasp pivoted to housing F, and secured to F by means of' staple and lock, and when the lock is removed the weight is suflicient to cause the hasp toassumc a vertical position. K is an angle-plate, fixed in such a position that the weighted end ofthe hasp U will pass over the vertical portion of the angle-plate K without touching it when the hasp is secured by the lock, but when the hasp is not locked down the heavy end will engage the vertical portion of the angle-plate K, and thus prevent the switch being moved by the distant lever.

H isa chain secured to barE, passing through eye I on bar D and thrustthrough the weighted end of the hasp C, the lock being attached to the free end of chain H.

As used in an interlocking system, my improvement is arranged on the connection to the switch so that the hand-lever can only be used when the signals of the lineto which the switch belongsaresetattdanger,theinterlocking being such that the position of the switch (which will allow the hand-lever to be operated) will be such asto prevent the signals being set at safety. When the switch has been placed in said position the parts will be in position with reference to angle-plate K, the same as shown in Fig. 2, when the hasp may be anlocked and turned up to release the lever A,

thus giving the man at the switch the power to set the switch in either of its two positions with the same facility as any ordinary handlever. To insure the control ofthe switch being restored to the operator in the signal-tower when the hand-switching is concluded, the chain is made to pass through eye I on bar D and the eye I in the hasp-leverChso that when the switch is set wrong the hasp-lever 0 cannot be locked by reason of the chain being too short, and the weighted portion of it engaging the end of K, the switch cannot be operated from the cabin \Vben the switch is set in the correct position for restoring the control of it to the operator at the tower and duly locked the weighted end of the hasp G will be above the level of the vertical'portion of the angle-plate K, so that if the switch has been operated in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 1, from the cabin, though the hasp may be unlocked, it cannot be raised enough to liberate the lever A or effect the connection.

The foregoing sets forth one of the ways in which the control of the switch may be shared by the operator in the signal tower and a switchman at the switch; but it is obviousthat said result may be elfected by other devices provided the fulcrum of the lever to be used is fixed on theconnection to the distant lever; andin Fig. 3 I show an arrangement in which a common hand-lever, such as is frequently use to move switches, is employed with devices for the purpose of operating the switch while the connection to distant lever is locked and secured. The connection to the distantlever is made in-a flattened form suitable for sliding in guides Q, the upper edge of the connection P being provided with a pin or projection, It, which engages with one end of a simple lever, N, which at the center is pivoted to a connection or rod, 0, which leads to the switch and forms the connection by which it is set. The other end of the leverN is pivoted to one end of a connecting-rod, M, the other end of which isjointed to a lever, L, of a common switchstand. When this arrangement is used with an interlocking apparatus, and the position of the switch is suitable to the use of this device, a hole in the connection P will stand opposite a lock-hasp, S, and when the lock T is opened and removed the hasp S may be raised over the lock-staple U and slid out of the staple V, by which the hasp holds the hand-lever I1, and the hand-lever L released. In sliding the has S to do this it will enter the hole in the con nection P and serve to retain the connection P in the same position till the hand use of the switch is over. Reversal of the position of the hand-lever L will then cause the movement of the connection 0 and set the switch, the fulcrum of the lever N for this movement being the pin R. The movement of the connection 0 thus effected will be but one-half the movement produced by the hand-lever L; but this may be multiplied by the bell-cranks being of unequal arms or otherwise to give proper movement to the switch; or the hand-lever may have double the throw of the switch, in which case, to give the connection P sufficient throw, said connection may be operated at the signal-tower with two levers attached to one simple 1ever,'to which the connection is attached, as shown in my former patent, No. 226,499.

It is obvious that a number of different arrangements maybe devised to effect the move ments described; but it will be an essential requirement that either of them shall have a fulcrum on the connection leading from the switch to the distant lever, by which the lever is moved in order to make any arrangement effective.

I claim 1. The combination, with a switch and its distant lever-connection, of a lever and connections thereof with the switch-bar adapted to operate the switch independently of and without operating the distant lever-connection, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination of the hand-lever and distant lever-connection with a locking device so constructed and arranged that when the hand-lever is locked the distant lever-connection is free to operate, and when the hand-lever is released the distant lever-connection is retained in a fixed position.

3. The combination of bar E, connected with a distant lever, housings F, F, and G, bar D, hand-lever A, and bars B B, connected with lever A and housings F F, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

at. In a switch-operating device, a weightedlever hasp pivoted to housing F, in combination with a fixed angle-iron or stop, K, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The chain H, in combination with bars D and E and weighted-lever hasp O, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my sig nature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT G. CUMMINGS.

Witnesses:

G. W. BALLOCH, H. A. DANIELS. 

